Expanding awareness is just beginning to be studied in Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology and will likely be the next big buzz. But the brain and psychological effects of a regular mindfulness practice have been studied for many years now. A regular practise has been shown to .

A downloadable pdf of these studies is just one of the many resources you will have at your fingertips if you sign up for this course!

Course Overview

The course is designed in a multi-tiered way so that it can serve many different needs, both beginner and advanced, without bogging anyone down with long, boring videos!

1. The core is a series of easy to follow instructions into four different meditation techniques, progressing in difficulty from those that develop mental precision to the final module for expanding awareness.

2. The background module is filled with short, topic-specific videos that provide more in-depth treatment of some of the nuances of meditation, posture, location, eyes, and so on. You don't need to look at these to get started; these are here for those people who have extra questions.

3. The background module also includes longer videos and mp3s that are designed to be a conceptual guide to meditators as they progress through different levels of awareness and begin to have different questions about their experiences. Again, if you just want the core, it's a stand alone set of instructions.

In addition to the content videos, each instruction module includes loads of guided meditations, both as videos and as downloadable mp3s, for you to use as you develop your practise. Supplemental videos of challenging physical activities, for example some yoga poses, to use for your active meditation practise are continually being added.

Pick and choose which aspect of the course you want to focus on. When you start out you might just want simple instruction, but after some months or years, you will have more questions. This course will grow with you and is designed as a lifelong companion meditation practise.

Why Am I Teaching this Course?

I had been trying to meditate on and off for a large part of my life and never had much success. Then, some years ago, because of my research in cognitive science and philosophy of mind, I became interested in mindfulness from a theoretical perspective.

I really learned to meditate then and haven't looked back.

After receiving lots of student feedback from my course Brain Training++ and from students at the university where I teach, I realised that a course like this one is needed!

I have tried to present everything I have learned - tips that work for me and for others, motivation to keep at it, and background concepts that help make sense of the changes you will experience - in a way that is accessible to everyone AND that goes much deeper than most meditation courses do.

If You've Ever Asked any of these Questions, this Course is for You!

How could meditating make me happy?
How could meditating ever make my life more meaningful?
Should I be trying to empty my mind of thoughts during meditation?
What is the difference between thinking about something and being aware of it?
Is there a difference?
What is going on in my brain/mind when I am in the flow of the moment?
Is there a difference between being in a flow state and being mindfully aware?
What are thoughts anyway?
Can we ever get rid of thoughts completely?

Basically, if you have ever wondered about some of the mental experiences you are having, both on and off the cushion, this course offers videos and MP3s of more in-depth discussion of the phenomenological effects of meditation, of what these experiences mean in the context of your life, and how these changes can move you toward developing a more personally meaningful, happy life.

What You will Learn in this Course

Four meditation techniques, each designed to develop a particular aspect of mind: stability, precision, presence, and finally awareness
Why meditation affects our brains/minds positively, from a neurological level
Why meditation affects our brains/minds positively, from a psychological level
The brain/body effects of an on-going meditation practice
The psychological effects of an on-going meditation practice
Concepts of mind and consciousness that will give you the tools to think more deeply about your own experiences, not just during meditation
Links to resources, both online and paper, on meditation, mind, neuroscience, including an up-to-date list of the current studies of meditation's effect on the brain, body, and mind
Introduction to various physical activities to meditate during - yoga, martial arts, dance . I will keep adding classes as I receive suggestions

Developing these aspects of mind will pay you back tenfold with an increase in .